President Hafez Assad, the lone gun of Middle East politics, has joined the posse, sending Syrian troops to Saudi Arabia for the showdown with Iraq. In the shifting alliances of the Arab world, the 60-year-old Assad, two decades in power here, had remained obdurate and aloof. Diplomats called him "Mr. No." He was the man who sat and waited for things to turn his way. Now, faced with hard and complex new realities, he has taken a stand, one that is rife with risk.

President Hafez Assad, the lone gun of Middle East politics, has joined the posse, sending Syrian troops to Saudi Arabia for the showdown with Iraq. In the shifting alliances of the Arab world, the 60-year-old Assad, two decades in power here, had remained obdurate and aloof. Diplomats called him "Mr. No." He was the man who sat and waited for things to turn his way. Now, faced with hard and complex new realities, he has taken a stand, one that is rife with risk.

Syria gave Saudi Arabia and other Arab states an unpublicized written pledge to negotiate a timetable for withdrawing all of its 40,000 troops from Lebanon as part of an overall political accord reached with legislators of that country last October, the Washington Post reported.

Syrian commandos have taken up defensive positions south of the Kuwait border, declaring they are prepared to do battle against Iraq alongside their former U.S. foes. "In this fight, there is no stranger," a young Syrian soldier declared. "We came to Saudi Arabia to defend Saudi Arabian land, and the Americans, they came for the same reason. Any country of Arabs asks for help, we will come as soon as possible."

Syrian commandos have taken up defensive positions south of the Kuwait border, declaring they are prepared to do battle against Iraq alongside their former U.S. foes. "In this fight, there is no stranger," a young Syrian soldier declared. "We came to Saudi Arabia to defend Saudi Arabian land, and the Americans, they came for the same reason. Any country of Arabs asks for help, we will come as soon as possible."

Syria gave Saudi Arabia and other Arab states an unpublicized written pledge to negotiate a timetable for withdrawing all of its 40,000 troops from Lebanon as part of an overall political accord reached with legislators of that country last October, the Washington Post reported.